San Juan Record Classifieds, Events, Businesses In Monticello, San Juan County, Utah

Aug 21, 2013 | 4684 views | 0 | 300 | |

SPORTS SHORTSby Scott Boyle

The Monticello Buckaroos begin the 2013 football season with high expectations in 1A football and have the returning firepower to back it up.

No less than eight returning starters will be back for another year for head coach Lee Chadwick’s Winged T offense. Seven starters return from the second stingiest defense in 1A last season.

Last season took its toll on the Bucks, injury-wise, forcing the coaching staff to play players out of their normal positions. Chadwick is counting on extra time in the weight room this summer to help the Buckaroos stay healthy.

Offensively, the Bucks return perhaps the most prolific offensive tandem in Buckaroo football history, with the senior seasons of the Austins: Maloy and Wilcox.

Over the last several seasons, the two have combined to rush for more than 2,000 yards and 32 touchdowns (Maloy 1,053 yards and 16 touchdowns, Wilcox 1,097 yards, 16 touchdowns). They’ve added another 400 yards and eight touchdowns receiving (Maloy 339 yards, four touchdowns, Wilcox 90 yards, four touchdowns).

Most of those yards came their sophomore season as they lined up in the backfield together. Injuries last year sent Wilcox to the offensive line and forced Maloy to play quarterback for most of the season, where he passed for 329 yards and six touchdowns.

Add to this potent tandem another senior, Dillon Maughan, who has 189 yards rushing and eight touchdowns and 65 yards receiving and one more touchdown; junior Cole Eldredge, with 218 career yards and two touchdowns; and junior QB McKade Maloy, 172 yards passing three touchdowns, 24 yards rushing, two touchdowns and you have 56 touchdowns and and 2,910 rushing yards returning for the Bucks.

Throw in senior Hunter Bowring, who sat out the entire season last year due to injury, at wideout and another senior, Joseph George, the tallest player on the team, at tight end, and the Bucks could be seriously awesomely remarkable offensively. They should improve on their 28 point per game average of last year.

Blocking for these stellar runners are returning senior linemen and three year starters, Eric Anderson and Jake Giles and all around great player, Brandon Mussleman, who can pack the football himself, but is playing on the line because that’s where the team needs him.

With this stable, you’ll see why you’ll want to see the Bucks play this year.

Defensively, the Bucks will be rock-solid as always. Wilcox (96 career tackles), Austin Maloy (56 tackles, six interceptions), Maughan (33 tackles), Eldredge (28 tackles), and Giles (25 tackles), return to anchor a defense that only allowed 14 points a game last season, a season that saw the Bucks go 7-5 before losing in the semis to three time state champion Duchesne.

Look for the Buckaroos to be even stingier this year than last.

The Bucks Southern Region of 1A toughened up this season with the addition of Kanab, who dropped back down to 1A with the realignment.

But that only excites the Buckaroos, as they are the team with probably the most returning seniors of any school this year and they know that: (I’m paraphrasing) “tougher makes you better.”

The season begins this Friday in Montezuma Creek at the Whitehorse Raiders home field, followed by another away game at longtime rival, San Juan in Blanding on August 30.

Then follows two home games against Richfield and Monument Valley, on September 6 and 20. After a bye week, its off to Rich on September 27, back home against Altamont on October 4, and finishing the regular season on the road with away games at Diamond Ranch, Duchesne and Kanab.

Lots of traveling is coming for the Bucks, with travel to Richfield, Hurricane, Laketown, Duchesne and Kanab, totaling more than 3,000 miles.

Makes East High’s complaint a couple of years ago about having to travel all the way to Provo seem trivial, doesn’t it?

In the coming weeks, look for previews of Buckaroo volleyball and cross country.

A little golf

Do you want to see the exquisite effects of 2.5 inches of rain in two weeks? Check out the Hideout golf course and you’ll see verdant vanity at its zenith.

Seven 4-man teams lined up Saturday in the midst of all that gorgeous glory for the first annual Lions Club tournament.

Team John Young (John Young, Rob Wilcox, Lehi Lacy, Damon Orr) came out in front, shooting an excellent 59, followed by Team Dandy (62) and Team Jones (63).

Four players remain in the annual Hideout Club Match-play Championship: Bruce Royer, Cathy Lamb, Del Hunter, and Craig Leavitt. Really, you gotta come and see this place!

The Big Year

Sportshorts added two more birds to the Big Year list, bringing the number to 77 (did you know there are about 800 different bird species in North America?)

#76 Clark’s Nutcracker – These are high mountain inhabiting, grey and white birds with a big black beak that like to wrest seeds out of pine cones, and bury them for the winter. They say that each bird buries “tens of thousands of seeds and remembers the location of most of them.”

This particular Clark’s Nutcracker was observed near Allen Canyon.

#77 Great Egret – This awesome bird can be found along the shores of lakes and oceans, often in close proximity of great blue herons. It is a tall long-legged bird with all white feathers, black legs and yellow beak standing nearly three feet tall. They love fish, frogs, and crawdads.

Perhaps you have seen this great egret along the shores of Recapture Reservior. It is worth the trip to see. Bring a nice pair of binoculars in order to see this breathtaking bird, which is a much better fisherman than I.

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